Word of the Week: balneology

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Good morning, dear readers! (Okay, so it’s morning for me…many of you don’t read this until nighttime. Deal with it, night owls!) Yes, Word of the Week is back! Are you excited? If so, we really must get you better entertainment.

Way back in June the last word we tried to collectively conquer (I love alliteration!) was flehmen. Here’s the Merriam-Webster definition of flehmen: a mammalian behavior (as of horses or cats) in which the animal inhales with the mouth open and upper lip curled to facilitate exposure of the vomeronasal organ to a scent or pheromone. This would probably explain why I’m ridiculously allergic to horses and cats.

Today’s word is balneology. For the newer readers of MIP here are the “rules” for Word of the Week. I will attempt several definitions for the selected word and then you are free to submit definitions of your own in the comment box below. NO ONE, myself included, is allowed to consult a dictionary to get the proper definition–you must guess! “Points” for creativity and humor in your definition guesses! And even more points if you guess correctly or already know the definition. What do the points get you? Absolutely nothing other than my admiration. Hopefully we will all learn some new words and broaden our use of them.

After I have attempted my guesses, then I look up the word online and get you the pronunciation, so my definitions may be way off if I have been mispronouncing the word in my head as I guess! It seems to be nearly impossible to ignore the true definition when getting the pronunciation, so there’s your proof that I also avoid the dictionary when guessing.

balneology: (bal-nē-ˈä-lə-jē) 1. the study of new bowels 2. the study of new Ranger baseballs (That was just for you, DSL!) 3. the study of the ball joint of a knee (That was really reaching…wasn’t it?!)